BILL NUMBER: AB 2825	CHAPTERED  09/27/00

	CHAPTER   739
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE   SEPTEMBER 27, 2000
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR   SEPTEMBER 25, 2000
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY   SEPTEMBER 1, 2000
	PASSED THE SENATE   AUGUST 31, 2000
	AMENDED IN SENATE   AUGUST 31, 2000
	AMENDED IN SENATE   AUGUST 29, 2000
	AMENDED IN SENATE   AUGUST 14, 2000
	AMENDED IN SENATE   AUGUST 7, 2000
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   MAY 26, 2000
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   MAY 10, 2000

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Members Battin and Florez

                        FEBRUARY 28, 2000

   An act to amend the heading of Part 3 (commencing with Section
1101), of Division 1 of, and to amend Sections 1101, 1102, 1103, and
1107 of, the Food and Agricultural Code, and to repeal Section
21083.2.5 of the Public Resources Code, relating to the environment,
and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2825, Battin.  Biomass facilities:  grant program.
   (1) Chapter 144 of the Statutes of 2000 enacted the Central Valley
Agricultural Biomass-to-Energy Incentive Grant Program, which
permits air districts, as defined, to apply to the Trade and Commerce
Agency to receive grants to provide incentives to facilities that
convert qualified agricultural biomass, as defined, to fuel.  Under
existing law, specified terms are defined for purposes of the
program.
   This bill would revise the name of the program to the
"Agricultural Biomass to Energy Incentive Grant Program."  The bill
would also revise the definition of the term "facility" to delete the
requirement that the facility convert qualified agricultural biomass
from the Central Valley, and to include only those facilities that
do not produce electricity for sale to a public utility, as
specified, and would revise the definition of the term "qualified
agricultural biomass" to include only that qualified agricultural
biomass that the State Air Resources Board determines has been
historically open-field burned in the geographic jurisdiction of the
air district from which the agricultural residues are derived for
purposes of that program.
   (2) This bill would repeal provisions in AB 2752, if that measure
is chaptered, that require a lead agency to minimize any significant
impact of a project on the free exercise of Native American religion.

   (3) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately
as an urgency statute.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  The heading of Part 3 (commencing with Section 1101) of
Division 1 of the Food and Agricultural Code, as added by Chapter
144 of the Statutes of 2000, is amended to read:
      PART 3.  AGRICULTURAL BIOMASS-TO-ENERGY INCENTIVE GRANT PROGRAM

  SEC. 2.  Section 1101 of the Food and Agricultural Code, as added
by Chapter 144 of the Statutes of 2000, is amended to read:
   1101.  This part shall be known, and may be cited, as the
Agricultural Biomass-to-Energy Incentive Grant Program.
  SEC. 3.  Section 1102 of the Food and Agricultural Code, as added
by Chapter 144 of the Statutes of 2000, is amended to read:
   1102.  The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
   (a) California agriculture produces substantial quantities of
residual materials from farming practices, including orchard and
vineyard pruning and removals.  These residual materials are disposed
of primarily by open field burning, resulting in air emissions that
would be substantially reduced if the residual materials instead were
converted into energy at a biomass-to-energy facility.
   (b) California's longstanding energy policy encourages a diversity
of electrical power generation sources, including biomass-to-energy
and renewables.  Existing biomass-to-energy powerplants provide an
important alternative use for agricultural residue materials as well
as electrical power for the people of California.
   (c) California seeks to improve environmental quality and sustain
our natural resources, in part through various strategies and
programs that reduce agricultural, rangeland, and forest burning, and
programs that foster higher value uses for materials that otherwise
would be managed as wastes.  Air districts currently administer air
quality permit and emission requirement provisions, under state law,
for various types of project facilities, including those using
agricultural residue products as biomass fuel to produce electrical
energy.
   (d) Additional incentives are necessary to reduce open field
burning of agricultural residual materials that degrade air quality,
to produce electrical power from a renewable source, and to foster
and sustain the biomass industry, including collection, hauling, and
processing infrastructure, and, therefore, the Legislature
establishes the Agricultural Biomass-to-Energy Incentive Grant
Program.
   (e) The Legislature further finds and declares that providing the
grants set forth under this program is in the public interest, serves
a public purpose, and that providing incentives to facilities will
promote the prosperity, health, safety, and welfare of the citizens
of the State of California.
   (f) It is also the intent of the Legislature to provide funding of
thirty million dollars ($30,000,000) over the three-year duration of
the grant program.
  SEC. 4.  Section 1103 of the Food and Agricultural Code, as added
by Chapter 144 of the Statutes of 2000, is amended to read:
   1103.  For the purposes of this part, the following definitions
apply:
   (a) "Agency" means the Trade and Commerce Agency.
   (b) "Air district" means an air pollution control district or an
air quality management district established or continued in existence
pursuant to Part 3 (commencing with Section 40000) of the Health and
Safety Code.
   (c) "Facility" means any California site that meets both of the
following criteria:
   (1) As of July 1, 2000, converted, and continues to convert,
qualified agricultural biomass to energy and the conversion results
in lower oxides of nitrogen (NOx) emissions than would otherwise be
produced if burned in the open field during the ozone season, as
determined by the air district in which the site operates.
   (2) Does not produce electricity for sale to a public utility
pursuant to a contract with that public utility, or, if the site does
produce electricity for sale to a public utility pursuant to a
contract with that public utility, the site does not qualify for the
fixed energy prices under the terms of that contract at the time the
application for the grant is made.
   (d) "Grant" means an award of funds by the agency to an air
district that shall, in turn, grant incentive payments to a facility
after deducting the air district's administrative fee as provided in
Section 1104.
   (e) "Incentive payment" means a payment by an air district to
facilities for qualified agricultural biomass to be received and
converted into energy after July 1, 2000.  This payment shall be in
the amount of ten dollars ($10) for each ton of qualified
agricultural biomass received for conversion to energy.
   (f) "Qualified agricultural biomass" means agricultural residues
that historically have been open-field burned in the jurisdiction of
the air district from which the agricultural residues are derived, as
determined by the air district, excluding urban and forest wood
products, that include either of the following:
   (1) Field and seed crop residues, including, but not limited to,
straws from rice and wheat.
   (2) Fruit and nut crop residues, including, but not limited to,
orchard and vineyard pruning and removals.
  SEC. 5.  Section 1107 of the Food and Agricultural Code, as added
by Chapter 144 of the Statutes of 2000, is amended to read:
   1107.  The multiagency review panel established pursuant to
Section 1105 shall provide a report to the Legislature on the results
and effectiveness of the Agricultural Biomass-to-Energy Incentive
Program by January 1, 2003.
  SEC. 6.  Section 21083.2.5 of the Public Resources Code, as
proposed to be added by Assembly Bill 2752 of the 1999-2000 Regular
Session, is repealed.
  SEC. 7.  It is the intent of the Legislature that if this bill is
chaptered after Assembly Bill 2752 of the 1999-2000 Regular Session,
that the repeal of Section 21083.2.5 of the Public Resources Code by
this bill prevail over the addition of that Section by Assembly Bill
2752.
  SEC. 8.  This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the
meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate
effect.  The facts constituting the necessity are:
   In order to make various changes to the Agricultural
Biomass-to-Energy Incentive Grant Program as soon as possible, it is
necessary for this act to take effect immediately.
